Comments on: Bare Buttocks Bidet Billboards Barred 'Bove Broadway Basilica

By: john glass

john glass — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:14:19 +0000

Balaam's ass speaks words of wisdom!Is anyone listening

By: Dean

Dean — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:52:09 +0000

A stimulating interaction, even this much time later.

Couldn't help but offer another:

JESUS loves you from top to bottom…

By: Michael,

Michael, — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:24:10 +0000

Another possible line…2 and a half years later.
Got spritual turds?
Come in and be renewed by the washing of the water of the word

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:22:33 +0000

Abigail,

I think the reason for the difference lies in the fact that we are by nature sinners, far worse sinners than we realise, who naturally and constantly seek to find their hope, security, satisfaction, and very identity in something or someone else. The western world offers so many things to distract us in this way and, by and large, it keeps us all cosseted and secure so that we do not naturally see our need to turn to God anywhere near so often or so clearly than we might in other more dangerous countries.

Martin

By: abigail

abigail — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:04:04 +0000

Okay, I just found this blog. Here is my reaction to this blog and to American Christianity in general…I come from a different world- the Christianity I know is different. It is the kind where you could die for believing in it. It is the Christianity where it was the only light in a world of evil (oppression, death, disease, rape, poverty) that is why it was so precious. It was freedom and salvation. God was grand and powerful. Miraculous. When I came to America where Christians and their ancestors have been Christians for generations I was surprised how Jesus became so minimal, unpowerful, unholy. Just like any other guy condoning sin not requiring changed lives and sacrifice. Christianity was a matter of style or taking philosophical sides, theological sides. Jesus became a debate. I do not understand this.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:58:31 +0000

"The past can be all BEHIND you…. "
No?

By: Sheryl

Sheryl — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:43:09 +0000

Way late in this discussion, but the first thought that came to my mind?

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

Doesn't that say it all?

Seriously, I appreciate those who recognize that Christianity doesn't have to be stuffy. Many individuals who most need Christ perceive an unbending attitude that has them failing to truly understand, or at the very least questioning, the forgiving nature of Chriastianity. I believe there are some people who need to take a step back and look at the "spirit" of the words (like those written in this blog). There's no ill intent, simply making the most of a situation that might otherwise be viewed as a negative plight on a Christian world. What if the Times Square Church would have lost their court battle? Would they have walked away in defeat? Would they have launched a protest that may have turned away many who take no offense in the images of human bodies…one of God's greatest creations? Or would they have simply taken the hand they were dealt and looked for a way to relay their own message alongside that of the bare bottoms? I would like to think the latter.

By: traffic affiliate programs

traffic affiliate programs — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:38:47 +0000

traffic affiliate programs…

Every morning as people wake up and make the commute to work,many dream of the day when they will finally work forthemselves. Every time the boss lets someone know that they must give up their weekend plans for the good of the company, people contempla…

By: Craig D. Greatman

Craig D. Greatman — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:36:18 +0000

Hello to all. I am new here, just recently becoming hip to this website a couple of days ago. I absolutely think as if I have found a home, however. This is great stuff, terrific, edifying dialogue. Sure I am late, but never balk at the opportunity to put in my 2 cents. I always wonder why Christians find themselves in hystrionics when witnessing the world being just that…the world. Paul was all things to all people. Peter learned that he could eat whatever he wanted to as long as he wasn't causing others to stumble. Jesus hung out with sinners as was mentioned here previously. This (the advertisement) is the stuff that witnessing is made of, in my opinion. What an opportunity to demonstrate who Jesus is! We are called to be shrewd as serpents when dealing with the world, not prude as _____, (fill in the legalistic denomination of your choice here). We cannot call the world into holy living without first showing them the love of Christ. Expecting a bidet company to have any different approach is rather silly. This was a great marketing ploy. Christ has called us to holy living only because we know who He is and what He has done for us. Anyway, we each work out our salvation with fear and trembling in very unique ways. What may bring offense and stumbling to one may simply be nothing but fun and games to another. While there are certain obvious behaviors that we can all agree upon as sinful, other things (non-salvation issues) are fun to debate and edifying to discuss. If God speaks to your heart in regard to viewing such an advertisement and you are offended, so be it. Don't watch it. If a church and its' congregation have a take on this sign and feel that allowing it presents a slippery slope that may lead to an ad for how to wear a condom, that could be quite reasonable. But, I think that for far too long the "religious right" and/or the "moral majority" have been the loudest voice for evangelical Christians who more often than not come across to a fallen world as pious, arrogant, stiff, and hypocritical. May God bless each of you who are wrestling with this issue and others like it. May you find peace in Him and not allow your wrestling to be the measurement for all Christians in all circumstances. Grace and peace out.

By: Esanae

Esanae — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:45:25 +0000

I have always respected Dr. Brown very much and do not understand what brief insanity led to this crass discussion. Perhaps he had no idea of the depths of crudity which his audience could reach.

By: Heather

Heather — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:23:19 +0000

It makes giving directions to the church pretty easy..

By: Angie

Angie — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:09:06 +0000

Every one of our sinners, period. That we can get so hung up on this stuff is crazy. If I thought for one minute that Jesus would have a hard time loving me because I laughed (really laughed) at this I do not know how I could go on. I have been set free from the sin that once had me bound and and that sin was so much more damaging than having a few laughs at the bared bottoms. Jesus loves us, the Eric's, the Mia's, the Angie's, all of us. I am certain of this not one thing that has been said on this blog spot has suprised Him, yet He still chose us to be His and to allow us to call Him, Daddy, friend, and also He is my Lover. He's is not mad and neither should we be. Shalom

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:29:33 +0000

""Are you a smart-ass who makes fun of Jesus? Or a dumb-ass who ignores him? Come find out!""

That had me laughing so hard….thats hilarious!

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:01:03 +0000

Is it all right if I jump in 6 months after the fact? I don't want to engage the dialogue about whether tweaking that church is brotherly-minded (which I assume) or mean-spirited (which I do not suspect, but apparently SOMEBODY does…)

I just want to offer another sugestion for the billboard beneath the butts!

How about: "Butt I say…" Join us for a series through the sermon on the mount.

Or: "The Bare Facts: introducing the basics of Christianity"

Or: "Are you a smart-ass who makes fun of Jesus? Or a dumb-ass who ignores him? Come find out!"

Or: "Bummed Out? We can help!"

Or: "Hot Cross Buns and Coffee every Sunday"

Or how about: "Causal attire accepted"

Or, if you want to be just plain edgy:
"They say "ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE" but we say there is hope!

Okay, that may be over the line.

By: cathleen

cathleen — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:01:36 +0000

Ah, the way the world changes. Thirty years ago this would not have been an issue. No one would have put up such a display. Today, such things are common place. And us Christians just sit back and accept the way the world changes without so much as a squeak. No wonder our children cannot pray in school anymore. I applaud Time Square Church for their protest of this bill board. Now if they could get them to take the pictures of teenagers in their underwear off the busses they would really be accomplishing something. But the issue here is not today's morality, so enough said about that.
Is the issue God's sense of humor? I think we can see all around us that God does have a sense of humor. After all, He uses all us broken people to help heal others. I find a lot of God's humor in everyday life. Jesus was human, and I am sure he fully understands our "offbeat" humor.
Perhaps God would look at this the same way I do. Great lines. Very witty. Very funny. Laughed alot at some of them. But in the end, I would not want to see any of them on the building. I would want to see the billboard down. I would not want to see "the bride of Christ" dressed in the "emporer's new clothes".
Perhaps this church decided to put up $90,000. with the confidence in God that they were standing up for what was right and their money would be returned. After all, it is God's money to start with.
I get the sense from these comments that Times Square Church is unknown to you, except for Mia who looked up their web site.
Anyone ever hear of David Wilkerson? Many many years ago when he was a very young man he had a calling from God to go on the mission field. His field of mission? New York City. The poorest parts. The meanest parts. The objects of his mission? The teenagers. The gang members. Did he have any "church based" support? No, only God's. Did God provide? Yes, in a big way. David Wilkerson took the Good News into the warring gangs on the streets of New York all by himself and brought hope and light and salvation into the lives of some of the worse people in this country at that time, while having his life threatened by the very people he was trying to help. Read his book "The Cross and The Switchblade". I did. When I was 13 and it changed my life. I had always loved God. But that book showed me the reality of God and His power.
From there David Wilkerson started Teen Challenge, which has ministered to teen in all kinds of trouble for decades. His ministries have expanded world wide and he finally came back to New York City and opened a church in the middle of another "raunchy" neighborhood and began ministering once again to prostitutes and street people and anyone else who needed God. In this church today, you will find poor raggedy dirty street people sitting next to rich fur clad people. I personally know an elderly lady that will take a bus from Albany and spend the night in the station just to attend a Sunday morning service.
And why am I telling you this? Just because. Maybe I thought you would like to know. I like to hear about God's work and I am sure the rest of you do also.
Once again. Loved the suggestions, glad they were not used.

By: George McFly

George McFly — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:26:43 +0000

There are 2 types of people:

Real people and Not-so-real people

I choose to be a real person.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:36:07 +0000

And just when I thought this thread was dead…I think we've all been a bit behind in leaving clever comments.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:08:02 +0000

Genesis 2:25
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:53:32 +0000

podcast listener for a year… love the show.

these comments made me laugh out loud… but of course I used up all three of my free sins here in just 3 minutes of reading…

of course its going to be a stumbling block to some… its the issue of meat. Some have the freedom, others are appropriately offended.

Adam and Eve covered themselves, and so should we.

Its still a hysterical story.

By: James Flikkema

James Flikkema — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:43:28 +0000

I came into this and was upset, confused, disgusted, laughed a little, disgusted again, then found some very good thoughts.

This is a great (if occasionally irreverent) forum to REALLY think about your relationship to a HOLY God.

Thanks, and keep up the good work.

By: Charles

Charles — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:19:48 +0000

The key is that His friendship can bring us something far better than a cold beer ever could. Trying to figure out what that specifically looks like, in our time and motivation, is a sure fire way to drive us (and turn us into) to many cold ones of an entirely different kind.

To be honest, I shudder to think my destiny with Him is eternal services, activities and playing nice and polite through the pain and smiling, singing songs through the numbness.

I want more. Sorry. I can't deny this.

Seriously….I caught a fleeting glimpse of it when I met Him and ever since, I have joined the project His children started years ago of trying to paint that picture ourselves here and thereby draining all the glory out of it for myself and everyone else.

He offers more….beyond words or expectations.

I believe He offers something that makes a cold beer look like tepid water. Any organized mass attempt at bringing that in like a magic incantation always comes out a failure. That's a good thing. If we succeeded, we would have proven the serpent correct after all.

In the meantime, I may go ahead with the cold beer…maybe not. But I won't settle and niether should you, no matter how unsettling that is for many. He taught me that much.

God is a Rock when the storm comes. But He can be uncaged and wild when the weather is monotonous.

By: Noelle

Noelle — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:53:52 +0000

way late in the game, but some random thoughts…

this brought to mind the comment that CS Lewis made about being able to base a sound argument for God on bathroom humor and ghost stories. that we find our bodies ridiculous points to us being something beyond animals.

thinking about Jesus as Friend–one importance is that He is always bringing us closer to His level instead of vice versa. so, He might start the relationship hangin' out drinkin' a cold one, but whereas we can be perfectly content with our drinking buddies remaining just that, He won't allow the friendship to stall out there. and the tension between awe and intimacy results in holiness.

By: brent

brent — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:50:33 +0000

in all of the discourse of the above billboard there has been no mention that there is a mcdonalds underneath the church… where is the combination of thoughts that the bidet is needed due to the burger? or the idea of the food of our souls, or the you eat today but need to eat again… I thought it was amusing that the food track was missed completely…
we are so unhinged that we forget people walk past this all day long and never notice… who new there was a church there
look again with eyes open at the place you are… you might be missing the meal deal in front of you

By: Charles

Charles — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:15:23 +0000

I can't speak for Eric but I what I get out of this is that we are His and because of that we need to lighten up….not be so uptight.

It's hard for people to see our joy when we're always worried about everything and trying to control absolutely every outcome imaginable.

LIGHTEN UP! YOU'RE HIS AND HE WON!

The minute we pull that pole out of our keister, we'll get along with each other much better and people will start to see a real difference.

By: Nino

Nino — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:32:50 +0000

I walked by that billboard when it was up. I work down a couple blocks from there. Funny I gotta tell ya…I wondered if that would upset the church at all, and from the looks of the board here I guess it did. Some of us are more concerned about these things than others, and I guess that made them upset enough to put up $90,000 to get it taken off their wall. I laughed a lot about the jokes put up here, and could see some churches taking that route, and some taking the other, more serious route. I guess it has to do with who your audience, or church members are. The funniest thing to me is that there are Victoria's Secret ads all over that area as well as other ads that could be considered sexual and perverted, bloody tv show and movie ads, and all sorts of other things. To make a big deal over a bunch of butts, I mean. The ad wasn't even sexual. I didn't even think any of those butts were extremely sexy or apple-shaped. Hey those are my 2 cents. A little late, I know…but Love Is All You Need.

-nnnnnnno

By: greenboy

greenboy — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:38:17 +0000

I dont know why some people love to be vulgar…? I wonder…
is a fallen world let me tell you…

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:26:36 +0000

God bless you Erik , he has sure used you and Steve in my life…

By: Erik

Erik — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:22:03 +0000

I'm sitting here editing and thinking about this. Quick note…

Jesus used all kinds of images to convey the nature of God and the quality of the relationship He has with us. King? Sure. Also, friend, brother, bride, etc.

If you take all that literally you may come away from the scriptures thinking that He wants to have an incestuous homosexual marriage with his friends. Rather, I think you have to look at the essence of those images and what that means for us.

For me it really goes beyond, "bud." I'm disgusted by sh*t like, "Jesus is my homeboy." I'm not encouraging that kind of kitsch.

I look at how He expresses Himself and I come away with something more like a relationship that has the closeness and intimacy of a great marriage…one where your spouse is your best friend and you laugh and cry and live together…really live. So close that "the two have become one." What's more, the person you are one with is royalty and His Father (Sovereign of all that is) is now your Father. You're just as much part of the family as His Son (cause you're one). And beyond that…the Father is looking forward to giving you and His Son His inheritance…the entire universe.

That's how I see it. Pretty far away from "bud." But "bud" is in there somewhere.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:56:12 +0000

I think you are right Greg from Canada, I however come from a religious backgroud of the "Sinners at the hands of an angry God" variety, so I always kind of cringe when I don't cower in fear at the mention of Jesus' name(ok a little hyperbole here, but still). It is something Im working to understand that while Jesus IS the King of Kings he also wants to be my "bud". Its very counter-intuitave, kind of the same way a Creator-King-Lord of all Creation died for ME…and yet I don't deserve it. But I think in an off way thats is the entire point of this thread, that religion takes itself too seriously, and tries to convence everyone that we are so serious, when in reality WE should be the most joyful, laid back people in the entire universe…

–As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. (Psalm 42:1-2)

By: Erik

Erik — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:50:21 +0000

Jesus said, "You are My friends…"